DISSIDIA: FINAL FANTASY: FINAL VICTORY
by TEKNAM
Summary: Post Dissidia, Three wins later... A strange boy heralds the beginning of a strange new emotion for Terra, and his rival heralds dark times for the Emperor. However, as more and more champions arise, who will reign victorius? Read more inside.
1. THE FALCON'S DEMON: ALL DONE YET?

And greetings to you all once again! This is a new idea I'd been playing at in my spare time. So, here we go, let's hope this game did enough for me. Here's a little background on this story:

Three more cycles have passed since the heroes first defeated Chaos. They have gotten little from Cosmos as to how this continues to repeat. And now, due to their foes getting slightly more battle hungry, our heroes are worn out and running head-first into defeat. HOwever, one new hero and his arch-rival are about to bring about the final end of the cycle. Love is born, a fierce hatred is sparked, and a horrible past is revealed by the team's soon to be only berserker. Sky pirates, church-busting soldiers, a zombie, and so much more await!

Pairings are OCxTerra, for now. as the stroy progresses. Chapter one of Dissidia: Final Fantasy: Final Victory begins. I hope you all enjoy this little personal version of the story… ON WITH THE SHOW!

* * *

DISSIDIA: FINAL FANTASY: FINAL VICTORY

* * *

CHAPTER 1: THE FALCON'S DEMON: ALL DONE YET?

* * *

OP: "Wanna Be Strong" – Tsubaki Takayuki

* * *

The sun slowly rose in the distance, dazzling the eyes of the eleven weary travellers. Two of the nine men of the group had the only two women of the team slung over their shoulders to let them rest.

"Well, Terra has been sleeping a long time, hasn't she?" One man said, his serious face outlined by the trio of horns on either side of his high-horned helm, his neck covered by the mid-grade casing of armour that covered the majority of his body.

"Well, if SOMEONE hadn't pushed her so hard in the last battle," Said another, a small boy with slightly dirty-blonde hair and a decent covering of red armour, "She might still be even so much as SLIGHTLY conscious, Warrior of Light. And don't worry, Firion, I'm not looking at you on this one." The small boy looked up at a man MUCH taller than himself, who sported eight different weapons and a head of white hair covered off by an orange bandana, whose expression simply said, 'You'd better not be'.

Firion, however, looked at the boy and retorted with, "Well, you know, Onion Knight, if YOU hadn't been telling her to run away from that bloody freak of nature Kefka, She might NOT have used the Ultima spell in the first place. But, you know, JUST SAYING." Onion Knight simply glared at his comrade and turned away, breathing a deep breath out of frustration. Although Firion was right, he didn't HAVE to phrase things the way he had. Soon, however, the girl, whose arms were wrapped around the shoulders of a man in a long black coat with only one sleeve, woke up, and, letting go of her carrier's shoulders, landed on her feet.

"My goodness, how long was I asleep?" The girl said, her worried eyes looking first to Onion Knight for an answer. When he told her she'd been sleeping for almost a day, she gasped and apologized to her carrier.

"I'm sorry I made you carry me for so long, Cloud, I promise I won't do it again," The girl said, to which the black-adorned Cloud smiled and said, "Don't mention it, Terra, you needed your rest and we needed to keep moving, so it was no trouble. It was easy, especially when I used the Buster Sword as a platform to keep you on my shoulders, and only had to hold your hands in place. It was no trouble, really." Terra nodded and hugged Cloud and continued to walk, picking up the lagging Onion Knight and letting him piggy back on her shoulders. Despite the tension between some of the warriors, they were the best of friends. However, the only thing they hadn't understood yet was how they'd been called back to this battle YET AGAIN.

This was at least the third time they'd been returned to these crumbling worlds after they collectively defeated the God of Discord, Chaos, and his minions, their arch-nemeses. However, not even six months after their returns to their individual worlds, they were called back to fight once again, much to their complete lack of understanding. And their mistress, Cosmos, the Goddess of Harmony, offered little in the department of insight, only telling them that their battle was almost over. Yet, time and again, Cosmos had allowed herself to be immolated by Chaos, who would then be defeated by Cosmos' soldiers, causing Chaos to teleport them away from his own immolation. They couldn't understand how this could continue to happen; both gods were dead, there was no more battle to wage, yet somehow, every time they returned, Cosmos, Chaos, and all of their foes would all be right there, waiting for them. Not to mention the never-ending waves of Manikins, beings created of Void power and crystals to fight the Heroes for the Villains, which always ended in a LOT of wasted crystals and power that returned to one of their more prominent foes, Exdeath, the Warlock of the Void.

Recently, however, Chaos' warriors had been getting rather restless, and had resorted to ambushing the heroes from surprising locations: Onion Knight had only JUST recently been ambushed by his nemesis, the Cloud of Darkness, a humanoid conglomeration of the world's evil in the form of a scantily clad woman, with a wing-like cloak and two tentacles with minds of their own. She had been hiding INSIDE a pillar in the Dark World and had proceeded to fire one of her particle beam attacks at him when Firion sensed something wrong and leapt into the path, spinning his lance in super-sonic circles to absorb the attack, then thrusting it forward at the pillar where the villain had been hiding, initiating a large-scale battle that nearly destroyed the entire area until Terra brought it to a close with a rather over-charged Ultima spell. This final attack not only severely injured the Cloud of Darkness, but left Terra in an unconscious state.

Not even two hours previous, the team was once again attacked, this time in the Old Chaos Shrine by Judge Gabranth, adversary of the team's diminutive spirit spell caster Shantotto, who quickly dispatched him back to his team mates with the use of a combination of Fire and Water Magic that sent a burning Gabranth riding the waves of defeat right back to his comrades. She too had fallen unconscious from fatigue, and had resorted to having her team mate Zidane, a young man, no bigger than Onion Knight, but with far less armour, and sporting a monkey-like tail and natural aerial agility the likes of which none of his friends could rival, to carry poor Shantotto around on his back. Good thing she wasn't too heavy, or he'd have been in bed for weeks with a broken back. However, it was only a few moments before Firion felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end, and he discretely fell into step with Warrior of Light, informing him of possible danger.

"EVERYONE, STOP MOVING, THERE'S DANGER AHEAD! STAY ON GUARD!" Warrior of Light shouted, and everyone stopped. As Warrior of Light continued alone to check out the danger ahead, the others began to speculate on what could be coming their way next. Perhaps the psychotic mage clown Kefka was planning something again, possibly trying to turn her to the side of Chaos as he'd done SO many times before.

"Everyone, come here!" Came Warrior of Light's voice from a ways ahead, and as everyone approached his location on the top-most platform of the Crystal World, they saw what appeared to be the source of Firion's troubles: A young man, no older than twenty years old, with black hair and no armour what-so-ever, not even a single weapon hanging from anywhere on his body, lay slumped against a crystal wall, one hand at his side, the other resting in his lap.

As Terra approached to check the young man's psyche with magic, his eyes shot open and he lunged, grabbing Terra by the throat, a blade protruding from his now opened wrist, and he warned, "Come one step closer, and she loses her head, you rascal scumbags!" All the other heroes backed up a few steps as the boy's eyes darted from one person to the next, his expression soon calming from aggressively serious to cool and collected.

The boy soon let go of Terra and retracted his blade, saying, "Wait a minute, what the heck? Who are you people, and how did I wind up here? Last I checked I was saving a girl from a band of thugs in an alley. I got hit on the head, knocked out, so…wait a minute; that must be it! I must be dreaming!" The ten conscious warriors stood, wincing in pain as the young man attempted everything he could think of to try and wake up. Only after the young man stabbed his own hand with a blade from the opposite wrist did he realize, screaming in pain…

"You can't hurt in a dream… Then … I'm already awake?!" The young man keeled over and passed out, leaving the other warriors to debate on what to do with him.

~Later…~

A pair of nearly golden-brown eyes fluttered open, fighting back the blinding light that glared down on them. Soon after, holding an arm over those same eyes, their bearer sat up in a strange bed, his shoulder-length, wild black hair now more unruly than ever.

"OH! You woke up! Welcome back to the world of the living, sleepy-head!" said an annoyingly high-pitched voice that nearly turned his eardrums to paste.

"OK, I know you don't know me, but have you ever heard the term 'Tone It Down?'" The young man said, sitting up slowly. His current state worried him, as he'd never been fully awake, yet feeling like he'd been rammed into a brick wall by a rogue truck.

"REALLY NOW, you're going to insult me?" Rang the annoying voice again, and as the boy's eyes slowly began to focus, he saw before him a dwarfish woman, no higher than about three feet, with small elfish ears and a flat nose, in dull-coloured puffy clothing staring up at him with a look of distaste, who continued, "Just because this is how my voice developed, you choose to attack me for it? How dare you! I, the Great Crystal War hero Shantotto will NOT stand for this! What is your name, boy, so I can add you to my list of people to destroy later?"

For as strange as the woman's sentence was to the boy, he rubbed his eyes and slowly reached over, his face now stretching into a twisted smile, and said, "Well, well, little girl, why are you in this battle? Was your daddy a little too lazy to get up and enlist HIMSELF in the army?"

Shantotto, now enraged, stormed out of the room, muttering something about a special surprise in his food, allowing her negative presence to be replaced with one far more gentle and calm. Seconds after Shantotto's exit, a tall girl in a low-cut, sleeveless, strapless floral print dress and spotted leggings, with matching floral-print cape, and blonde hair walked in, her gentle smile radiating through the boy, calming him down from his earlier rowdy state.

"I see you managed to work Shantotto into a tizzy… Congratulations, not many of us can do that! In any case, I'm the one the tended to your injuries, so just let me know if there's anything you need, OK?" the girl said, just in time for the boy the try and stand up. The boy groaned however, as a splitting pain tore through his head, and as he reached up, he felt his head wet… pulling his hand back, he found it covered in blood.

"BLAST! Please, go in my left-hand inside coat pocket and get me the white box with the red cross on it!" the boy said calmly, waiting patiently as the girl ran and got the item he had requested. Opening the box, the boy pulled out a small needle and, bracing himself, plunged the tip into his head, grinding his teeth in pain as he injected the contents into his head. Disposing of the needle, he began to write in excruciating pain. As the girl ran over to see if he was alright, she saw something horrifying: As if in slow motion, the flesh and bones on the boy's head were practically stitching themselves back together!

"Wh-what in the world?" the girl gasped as she staggered back into the door. Several seconds later, the boy stood up, put on the pair of tall, black boots that sat next to the bed, and reached for the door, only to be stopped by the girl.

"I'm sorry; I can't let you leave until I know your name! I have to introduce you to the group," the girl said. The boy smiled as he reached for the door handle.

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours, pretty lady," The boy said teasingly. The girl, not used to being spoken to that way, looked away as her face turned a deep crimson.

"Uh… m-my name's T-T-Terra…" She said shyly, and as the boy grabbed his coat form the door, he whispered in her ear, 'Nice to meet you, Terra. I'm Aldone; I hope we can get better acquainted later." Throwing the coat on, he opened the door and was immediately hit with the equivalent of a large cinderblock, directly in the chest. Winded, he stumbled back and watched as Terra started prying off a small lump of red metal and peach-coloured flesh, which was soon introduced as her rambunctious team mate Onion Knight. As each respective member of the team introduced themselves, Aldone stared at them, attempting to figure out how to categorize them. It was only after Cloud stepped forward to shake his hand that Aldone realized that categorizing wouldn't be needed. At least he'd found temporary traveling partners until he could figure how to get home… Little did he know who he was actually working with…

MEANWHILE…

Far away from the Crystal World, a man in a long, flowing cloak adorned with ornate skull ornaments, floated along to a small throne and sat down, allowing the long staff in his hand to float freely next to him, while several armoured beings stepped forward, followed by two scantily-clad women, and several others. As the last of the group, a lean youth with a feather in his hair, floated over, surrounded by several orbs of light, the man in the throne looked over at one of the women, who had grey hair and two tentacles attached to a point on her back, who carried several serious injuries that were literally smoking.

"I see that Dark Healing skill of yours is already working overtime, Cloud of Darkness," the man said, only to get the reply, "Oh really? Well, I'd like to see YOU survive an over-charged Ultima spell with little more that a few crushed bones and charred limbs, as well as burned flesh, EMPEROR MATEUS! Do you know how much energy I exerted trying to deflect THAT attack? When one pours as much power as that girl did, there is LITTLE chance of blocking!" Instead of thinking about what he'd said, the Emperor simply laughed.

"Well, do understand, dear woman, I would have blanked the attack with one of my traps. After all, you can't attack someone when you're lying nearly lifeless on the ground!" The Emperor proceeded to laugh maniacally while his injured comrade floated closer and closer to the ground, then finally lost consciousness and collapsed, falling flat on her face. For as fast and as powerful as her healing ability was, it didn't help much when she really needed it too.

"So, Mateus, what is your master plan for defeating Csomos' warriors?" A particularly heavily armoured being said in a deep, almost philosophical voice, his single glowing eye staring directly at the Emperor, although it seemed more as though he was staring vacantly into the distance beyond the throne-bound man.

"My plan, Golbez, is exactly as it was last time you asked me: Continue to sneak attack them until they succumb to fatigue, then destroy them all in one massive explosion!" The Emperor said, just as one of the livelier members of his team, a spry man in a heavily clashing clown-like outfit and clown paint, stepped up and said, "Of course, I'm not going to destroy mine! I'm going to string her up and torture her until she becomes my willing pawn! WEE~! I can just hear her screams of pain and anguish now! OH HO HO! I am SO EVIL!" The clown laughed until the metal-coated fist of one of the less-armoured figures, a man whose helmet was currently hanging on a two-bladed weapon that was stuck in the ground several feet away, struck him hard in the stomach. Winded, the mad clown flew away into a wall and screamed in rage as he regained his footing.

"G-GABRANTH, WHAT ON EARTH DID YOU DO THAT FOR?! I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF AN EVIL RANT!" the clown shouted, rushing at the bronze-armoured warrior with a burning fist, only to have his fist pushed away and his head struck through a wall as the same man, in a thick Australian accent, said, "I care not for WHY you wish to do what you intend to do. Just know that I do NOT stand for a cowardly man taking his pains and hatred out on women. Those kinds of men anger me most. Keep your mind clear of those thoughts, Kefka," Gabranth said as he released Kefka's now heavily bleeding skull and returned to his weapon, placing his heavy helmet back on his head.

"So, to continue," The Emperor said, his gaze straying from one point of the room to the next, "Who else is in favour of continuing my victory plan?" His question was answered by a rather obnoxious cry of "BOO!" from the door of the room. As the gazes of everyone, except the Cloud of Darkness, turned in the direction of the door, a figure appeared, more heavily clothed in armour then several of the men in the room.

"Your plan stinks of high hell! Your prey won't fall for it for too long. Just like my prey," the man said, his armour soon revealing itself to be demonic and a deep shade of purple, "Sooner or later, your targets are going to figure you out and rig every possible ambush site with countless traps. Then, it's goodbye ambush plan, and back to the old drawing board you'll go. I should know; I've spent the past few months at the drawing board, devising a new plan. Since I don't have one, I'm just going to do what I do best! DESTROY MY PREY'S LIFE!" The armoured man screeched in hysteric laughter.

"Excuse me, but this is an Invitation-only meeting, and I don't see you-" The Emperor said, before being cut off as the strange man seemingly teleported directly in front of him, holding up an armoured arm to display a Mark of Chaos.

"You're with us? Why haven't I seen you around these parts before?" The Emperor asked; he was soon met with the sarcastic answer, "Isn't it obvious? I JUST GOT HERE! YOU FOOL!" The Emperor's face contorted to one of frustration and rage upon being called a fool, just as a different armoured man, this one carrying a rather large weapon, stepped forward.

"I have a small problem with you suddenly coming out of no-where, boy. How about you prove your worth to me, as I'm one of the strongest of the group!" the man said, pulling his weapon up to rest on its tip on the floor. He was soon rejected as the boy shook his armoured head and chuckled.

"Sorry, Sir Garland, but in my world, you and your friends are folk legends; YOU are regarded as one of the WEAKEST baddies ever. You aren't strong at all, so I'll challenge who ever I feel like. And it's not you, weak man!" Garland stared at the boy, seemingly vacantly, for several minutes, before bursting out in hysteric laughter.

"That was very nicely done, boy! I like you! Since you know my name, why don't you tell us yours, new denizen of darkness?" the armoured man called Garland said, extending a hand that was soon shaken by the new guy.

"My name is Falcis Rancor. But you, like my prey, may call me…NITEWIND."

* * *

ED: "Chacarron Macarron" – El Mundo

* * *

To Be Continued…

* * *

And there you have it… One is annoying and a player, kind of like me in real life. Well, minus the player part. The other is … also annoying, and super psychotic, which you'll see more of in later chapters. Also like me in real life, because, if you know me personally, you'll know I am indeed, highly crazy. More will come soon. R&R, CONSTRUCTIVE FLAMES welcome!


	2. FOLK LORE HEROES: NITEWIND'S PROGRESS!

Once again, I hope you enjoy this advancement. WELCOME… TO CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 2: FOLK LORE HEROES: NITEWIND'S PROGRESS!

OP: "Wanna Be Strong" – Tsubaki Takayuki

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"

Aldone stood back in total surprise as his gaze shifted from one face to the next, the astonishment thick in his voice.

"I can't believe I'm actually meeting the great Folk Fantasy Heroes!" Aldone said again, moving across the room in a quick jog, pacing as he continued his long, drawn out ramble.

"THE WARRIOR OF LIGHT, bane of the devil-man Garland and the dark god Chaos! Firion, the eight-tool master and bane of the evil Emperor Mateus! Onion Knight, the miniature speed-demon who defeated the Cloud of Darkness!" After Onion Knight's praise, a man in a tall suit of black, blue-accented armour spoke up.

"Excuse me, what are you talking about, Folk Fantasy Heroes? You mean to say that we're actually folk lore legends where you're from?" Cecil Harvey, the combination Dark Knight/Paladin said, slowly taking a step forward.

"YES!" Aldone replied instantly, "Back where I'm from, your pasts all connected at some point or another, and your stories became folk legends called the "Final Fantasies of Spiria", while you were, individually, labelled the "Folk Fantasy" heroes. There are literally LIBRARIES full of testaments of your works and deeds, each chronicle just like the last. These stories are read to children to inspire them to become great people. Most kids, however just pass them off as rubbish. As it stands, I'm one of the very few kids who actually believed those stories, even after numerous adults had told me the stories were all fakes." The heroes felt uplifted. The mere thought of a world where they, and their actions, had been recorded in history as legendary tales of great heroism, and that THIS BOY, amongst a small handful of others, had continued to believe in them, despite multiple obvious attempts at breaking his spirit, was a source of new strength for almost every person in the room. Save for Onion Knight, who now looked even more livid than before. However, when he charged Aldone this time, he drew his sword and leapt, on a crash course for Aldone's face. However, he soon found that same strategies wouldn't work more than once on Aldone.

In one motion, Aldone had blocked Onion Knight's sword, grabbed both his arms, and used them to perform a choke hold on Onion Knight, who began to cough and gasp for air as Aldone released him, saying, "Nice try, Midget Knight. You can't surprise me that way twice." Onion Knight sighed deeply and lowered his sword as Aldone released his grip, allowing Onion Knight to land harmlessly on his feet on the floor.

Onion Knight, however, wasn't about to let some random upstart upstage him. Pointing his blade at Aldone, he announced, "I challenge you to battle, Aldone; a sort of test to prove yourself. After all, you are still relatively new here, and we can't be sure that you're not a new pawn of Chaos sent by our enemies to take us down from within!" Everyone else, including Aldone, stared at Onion Knight in surprise for several minutes. Then, without warning, Aldone stepped forward, smiling, and said, "Alright, I'll take you on. My skills may be slightly rusty from lack of use, but I should still be able to succeed; especially when you're using THAT logic. Just one question though…" Onion Knight nearly dropped his sword when Aldone asked, "Left, or Right?"

"EH?! What's that supposed to mean, Aldone? Left or Right WHAT?!" Onion Knight screamed as he tackled Aldone and forced him out of the hideout. As Aldone stood up, he replied, amidst numerous thunderclaps, and in a dark, foreboding tone, "Why, it should be obvious. Which side of your head should I hit to drop you? Left or Right?"

Onion Knight, now visibly irate, rushed at Aldone, sword outstretched, as Aldone raised his arms in a strange stance…

DISSIDIA INFO!

Aldone is a temperamental character whose skills change depending on his foe's abilities.

His EX Mode is a self-activating EX Burst, giving him an automatic advantage in battle.

BATTLE COMMENCES!

Onion Knight Level & Equipment: LVL 3; Short Sword, Bronze Bangle, Hat, Clothing

Aldone LVL & Equipment: LVL1; Slashing Claws, Hidden Dagger, Hat, Clothing

Onion Knight Starting Stats: HP-1150, Brave-175

Aldone Starting Stats: HP-1025, Brave-105

Stage Brave: 570

Onion Knight: I'm not letting you near Terra!

Aldone: ONION Knight? More like MICRO Knight to me.

Onion Knight lashed at Aldone, aiming to catch him on the chest. Aldone, however, leaned into Onion Knight's attack, thrusting his elbow into the smaller boy's wrist and disarming the young boy. Onion Knight watched his sword skid across the platform as Aldone jumped into the air. Onion Knight barely dodged to the side as Aldone came crashing down to the ground with a kick that ruptured the ground. Onion knight used his nimble legs to shoot around behind Aldone, only to find his foe was no longer there. He barely saw what hit him as a series of elemental-based punches and kicks smashed him in every direction. After a particularly strong thunder-based side-kick, Onion Knight flew through the nearest crystal pillar, gasping for breath as he stood. He hadn't taken a beating like this in a long time, and had been itching for a reason to let loose. Jumping into the air, he began spinning in circles.

BREAK!

Aldone Stats: HP-1025, Brave-850

"STARS UNITE!" Onion Knight shouted as a deep-crimson Aura opened up a space-time rift. From this rift came a slew of tiny meteors that flew on a crash course with Aldone's head .Aldone, however, jumped in the air and was soon covered in a barrier of wind that seemed to… catch the meteors. As Onion Knight shot one final meteor at Aldone to end the attack, Aldone focused. Swinging his arms behind him, Aldone charged up more power, causing the wind to spin wildly around him. Onion Knight slowly muttered something that sounded something like "Burn… it up?"

"You ready, kid?" Aldone shouted, thrusting a single fist forward. At this motion, the barrier blasted forward, sending every meteor back at Onion Knight. They stopped an inch from Onion Knight's face.

Onion Knight Stats: HP-1150, Brave-175

Stage Brave: 655

Aldone opened his hand and held it there, the palm flat, as he said, "Time to get a taste of your own bulbs, Onion Midget. Stars, Rain forth!" Spreading his fingers, Aldone shot the meteors into Onion Knight, who soon shot back into another crystal pillar.

Onion Knight Stats: HP-190, Brave-65

Aldone Stats: HP-1025, Brave-105

Onion Knight stood up, his body swaying left and right as he struggled to keep his balance. He could see, very faintly, Aldone walking towards him from at least 6 feet away. One blink later, Aldone was no more than three feet away. Seconds later, Onion Knight knew there was little point to opening his eyes.

BREAK!

Onion Knight Stats: HP-190, Brave-0

Aldone Stats: HP-1025, Brave-825

Stage Brave: 750

Several more punches and Onion Knight couldn't find the strength to get off his knees. Aldone picked him up by the back of his neck and attacked a sleep-oriented pressure-point on the young boy's neck, putting him to sleep.

Aldone: "Well, THAT was embarrassing."

VICTORY!

Aldone Post-Battle:

-Gained 12500 EXP!

--Level Increased by 3! (1-4)

--Basic Stats went up!

--Learned Beat Claw!

--Learned Soak Grande!

--Learned Steely Grind!

-Gained 4 AP!

-Gained 1250 Gil!

-Gained 4PP!

-Obtained Guard: Strizer Star Spring!

-Obtained Helm: Strizer Star Lens!

-Obtained Item Fusion Ingredient: Transmogidust!

As Terra ran forward to heal her fallen team mate, Aldone walked past Warrior of Light, who wore a genuine look of surprise. It had taken most of the other Warriors of Cosmos months to figure out the best methods for defeating Onion Knight. Aldone had done it on the first fight!

"Aldone, where did you learn that?" Warrior of Light asked. Aldone simply waved and kept walking, heading back to the base for a short nap. Warrior of Light couldn't wait to pry this valuable information from Aldone.

~MEANWHILE~

Jecht leaned half-heartedly against a massive stone pillar in the Dark World, contemplating how he'd work his way out of the Emperor's plans. He didn't want to kill his son, but the way that gaudily-dressed, power-mad maniac was going, he'd have no choice. Even IF Jecht didn't do it, that air-headed dumb-ass would for him. Jecht, beyond all the intellect he had left, couldn't figure out a way out of this.

"OI! How ya doing over there, slow brains?"

Jecht looked up to see his already least favourite person, Nitewind. The guy had only JUST gotten there a day or so ago, and already he'd made an enemy of the Emperor by simply calling him a fool. Jecht respected Nitewind for that, but just didn't like him that much.

"At least MY brains aren't as knotted up as yours are, Nitewind. Seriously, you're content with making an enemy of Mateus like that? Once he comes up with a way to kill you, you won't ever come back. As I understand the saying goes, he won't just kill you, 'He'll kill you dead,'" Jecht said, the armoured man approaching him at a slow pace.

"I really couldn't care less about what that moronic show-off thinks. I have a single goal: kill Aldone, my life-nemesis. Make his life a miserable, living hell, and FORCE him to let me kill him and take his swords so I can achieve my eternal peace by resurrecting the one I lost all those years ago. My goals are obtainable, because through out all the time that boy and I have fought, he's only EVER been able to repel me, send me away from him with a serious injury. IF that's all he's capable of, then he has NO chance of beating me when my powers fully mature," Nitewind said, his voice carrying a happier, yet more serious tone toward the end of his speech.

"Fully… Mature? You mean… You're not at full power yet??" Jecht asked. His interest was now piquing. Nitewind's helmet, as if to respond, formed what seemed to be a demonic smile, which scared Jecht a little. As Nitewind spoke, his eyes changed from their original white tinge to a dark crimson hue.

"That is correct, my near feral friend," Nitewind said, his voice changing from his original rough tone to a softer, almost genius-like tone, "You have no idea what I'll be like when my powers fully mature. However, I need to battle to raise my power to full maturity. Would you humour me with a demonstration of your powers?"

Jecht stared for a few seconds before smiling and saying, "Heh… Well, if you want it. I'm not one to turn down a free brawl. Let's GO!"

DISSIDIA INFO!

Nitewind is the slowest character to grow, yet strong all the same.

He is can delay his Brave-HP combos by logging them for player access.

BATTLE COMMENCES!

Jecht Level & Equipment: LVL 5; Light Axe, Bronze Bangle, Hat, Clothing

Nitewind LVL & Equipment: LVL1; Long Sword, Bracer, Helm, Light Amour

Jecht Starting Stats: HP-1525, Brave-275

Nitewind Starting Stats: HP-1100, Brave-95

Stage Brave: 500

Jecht: Must be really hot in there, huh?

Nitewind: Heh… HEHHAHAHAHAHA!

Jecht started charging for an initial attack, which Nitewind quickly stopped. Exploiting Jecht's open defences, Nitewind slashed upward and back with his sword, swinging Jecht up and behind him, then back into the floor with a crash.

ELSWHERE…

The Emperor was still fuming, getting angrier and angrier while Garland did nothing but sit back and laugh hysterically. Cloud of Darkness was now conscious. However, it wasn't any of the schemers who sensed the action a-ways away; Golbez, the massively armoured mage, straightened up in his seat and said, "IS it just me, or is there a surge of energy somewhere nearby? Do you think that maybe-" Golbez was cut short as a large chunk of stone fell down between himself and Kefka, who HAD been enjoying a nice, quiet game of chess. As the pieces flew about, Kefka and Golbez watched the board carefully. Their rules had been very clear: play would continue regardless of seismic activity around them, even if the board was torn in half and the pieces reduced to ash. As the dust from the fallen stone cleared, Both Golbez and Kefka gasped as the board revealed … Kefka's king caught in a seven-way checkmate by Golbez' King, Queen, both Rooks, and Right Bishop.

"NOO~! HOW CAN THIS BE?! I WAS WINNING!" Kefka screamed loudly as Golbez chuckled silently in triumph. Cloud of Darkness simply moved for the door, muttering something about investigating the disturbance. Several seconds later, however, her "team mates" scurried out of the over-cramped HQ when her excited voice rang out from above:

"HURRY UP, YOU LAZY FOOLS! JECHT IS TRYING TO KILL THE NEWCOMER!"

The entire team flooded out to the top side area to watch the brawl play out.

MEANWHILE…

Jecht quickly wound up for a simple slash attack and landed, unleashing a blazing flurry of strikes that sent Nitewind backward into a pillar. Jecht, thinking the fight was over, never saw the next attack coming: a ferocious shoulder tackle that sent Jecht through the nearest set of pillars. Slowly getting on his feet, Jecht took a quick look around, trying to find Nitewind's hiding place. However, he didn't seem to be anywhere. When, suddenly…

BREAK!

Nitewind Stats: HP-1025, Brave-870

"WHAT THE… ?!" Jecht shouted as his head plunged, face-first, into the hard concrete beneath him, forced down by a hard, flat edge. As he looked up, he barely caught the sight of a deep-purple blur as a large eye stared back at him. A single… half-opened… demonic … eye… filled with… such a terrifying aura…

Jecht Stats: HP-1525, Brave-250

Stage Brave: 450

"So, Jecht," Nitewind said, as he slowly slid his index and middle fingers across the eye on the sword, causing it to open completely. Suddenly, to Jecht, everything went black, and then…

BREAK!

Nitewind Stats: HP-1100, Brave-1570

Jecht Fell to his knees, then flat on his stomach. As all the spectators watched, Nitewind reached down and grabbed Jecht by the head. Throwing him into the air, Nitewind concentrated for a second, and then leapt for the skies.

"DIE BY THE HANDS OF THE GRAND DEMON!" Nitewind screamed loudly, performing a deft array of slashes and kicks that he didn't look capable of, while laughing in manic hysteria. Soon, he brought the attack to a close by slashing downward for the killing blow.

Nitewind: "HAHAHAHAHAHA! Hehe…"

VICTORY!

Nitewind Post-Battle:

-Gained 12 EXP!

-Gained 4 AP!

-Gained 1250 Gil!

-Gained 4PP!

-Obtained Guard: Demon's Destiny!

-Obtained Helm: Monster's Skull!

-Obtained Item Fusion Ingredient: Transmogidust!

The other villains couldn't believe their eyes. One of their strongest, and most instinctually brutal, warriors had been defeated by the new guy, in a matter of seconds. Garland, most of all, couldn't believe what had just unfurled. Jecht, out of all of them, had been the first to fall. Who would have known the recent recruit had such raw power?

"You lot can do with HIM as you like. I'm off to contemplate my next moves. See you all in a while," Nitewind said, as he slowly walked off. Mateus watched carefully as Nitewind sauntered off. That's when he saw it: A slow limp and a dangling arm that heartlessly dragged the newbie's monstrously large sword behind him. Apparently this big, lumbering buffoon had a few prior injuries that hadn't fully healed. He'd have to send Golbez and MAYBE Kefka to check on the brute later to confirm his suspicions… But if he could devise a way to remove Nitewind quickly, he wouldn't have to deal with him for much longer…

ED: "Chacarron Macarron" – El Mundo

To Be Continued…

Hmm… I'm beginning to wonder if I should add some other cannon characters from FFXI and XII. I'm more concerned with XII, as there are too many heroes to throw in the mix, but I think maybe I should use Basch to throw Gabranth off his A-game. In terms of XI, I'm open to suggestions. I wish to make this as grand as possible when it's all over and done. More will come soon. R&R, CONSTRUCTIVE FLAMES welcome!


	3. THE UNDEAD: DEMONSTRATIONS OF SPIRIT!

Alright, then, here we go again. WELCOME… TO CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 3: THE UNDEAD: DEMONSTRATIONS OF SPIRIT!

OP: "Wanna Be Strong" – Tsubaki Takayuki

"Is everyone OK?" Firion asked as the dust cleared. Even with a new team-mate on call, the group of twelve was still drastically overpowered. It had only been five hours, and already they'd been attacked an additional ten times from when they found Aldone. So far, they hadn't caught sight of Aldone's nemesis yet… but they were keeping that possibility open. Aldone had already succumbed to fatigue three fights previous, and almost everyone else, save for Firion, was out of power. Terra had exhausted her energy with an EX Burst after Aldone went down, Shantotto quickly followed suit with over-powered attack spells, then Warrior of Light after his limbs failed from constant attacking. Onion Knight and Cecil had fallen asleep with Squall and Zidane a few moments ago, but with only Cloud, Tidus, and Bartz left in tow, and now more than likely out of commission as well, it stood on Firion's shoulders to ward off three villains at once and protect his slumbering friends. He had long since discovered their plan to kill them all in their sleep, and needed to keep moving. However, time was running out, and Firion couldn't stay standing much longer. If he could just oust one of them and injure another, maybe the last would retreat to gather reinforcements.

"CLOUD? TIDUS? IS ANYONE ELSE AWAKE?" Firion shouted again as he stared down the Phantasmal Harlequin, Ephemeral Vision, and Delusory Warlock, manikin forms of Kefka, Tidus, and Golbez. With a quick dodge to the left, Firion blasted the Warlock manikin with a dose of sword play, and then hit the ground hard. He had expected fatigue to take him… just not this soon.

"GET UP FIRION… YOU HAVE TO GET UP!" he screamed, forcing himself, though to no avail, to stand once more. As the Harlequin stepped toward him, prepping a blast of Ultima magic, Firion braced for the impact that would kill him…

SMASH!

"Huh? What?" Firion said aloud as shards of Void Crystal shot past him in all directions. Some one, or someTHING, had just destroyed the Harlequin. And, by the sound of the second resounding smash, they had also destroyed the Vision as well. As he looked up, however, what met his eyes frightened him: A lone warrior, flesh tinged green from disease of some sort, stood alone against an oncoming army of Manikins. Before he passed out, he saw several Manikins that didn't seem to fit with the original cast of twenty-two…

~LATER~

Firion awoke to see Cecil and Tidus watching over him. For as weird as it made him feel, he was also left somewhat at ease. At least he knew his friends still cared enough to make sure he woke up…

"Ow… My head… What happened out there today? I lost consciousness after you and the others took that attack, Tidus," Firion said, rubbing the top of his head with his undamaged right hand. Tidus and Cecil looked at each other. Tidus smiled; Cecil's expression couldn't be seen, as he was hiding behind his strange-looking Dark Knight's helm. However, soon both men were laughing hysterically as a putrid odour wafted through the room and Firion, after smelling it, in a last-ditch effort to protect both everyone from harm, reached for his sword.

"EVERYONE, QUICK, WE'RE BEIONG ATTACED AGAIN! WHOA, WHAT THE-OOMPH!" Firion screamed as he drew at empty space and fell, head-first, from his bed. As the stench filled his lungs, with Cecil and Tidus still laughing hysterically, Firion slowly rose from the floor to investigate the source of the smell. Looking around, he could see that only a handful of the team was still present: Warrior of Light was sitting at a fire pit, roasting up some wild birds he'd been able to hunt down; Onion Knight was sitting next to Terra's bedroom, waiting for the first chance to hug her when she stepped out; Aldone, for some reason, was sitting across the way from what looked like a large green splotch on the opposite tree trunk. As Firion approached Aldone, the stench only seemed to intensify in magnitude. When he began to get closer, he noticed the presence of a body attached to the green splotch, adorned in a suit of … odd looking armour and resting a single green lump on the hilt of an … equally odd-looking sword. As he approached the green mass, Aldone's vision shifted towards Firion, and the mass moved to apparently see what Aldone was looking at. Firion was caught off-guard by the face that greeted him: a hunk of green, rotting flesh, barely hanging off of its bony frame, with two ocean-blue eyes and a rather disturbingly toothy smile.

Firion, at a loss for words, began, "Um… hello, might I inquire-" "Who I am, right?" the green mass said, completing Firion's obvious question. As Firion nodded, the mass began to rise from its place, revealing long, powerfully toned legs and muscular arms, six-pack abs covered in what appeared to be a thick coating of heavy plate armour, dark blue in hue.

"Aldone here was just telling me about you, Mr. Firion. My name is-" the green mass was suddenly interrupted as Cloud walked out of his room and burst out, "RAMZA? RAMZA BEOULVE? IS THAT REALLY YOU?" As the newly identified Ramza Beoulve turned to look at his addressee, his eyes seemed to bulge to an unearthly size, and the smile on his face widened well past its human limits.

"IS THAT YOU, CLOUD STRIFE? WHAT IN THE NAME OF SAINT AJORA ARE YOU DOING HERE?" the green-flashed Ramza shouted as he raced over and… hugged Cloud in joy. Cloud didn't seem to care very mush about Ramza's apparently diseased body as he eagerly returned the hug in a friendly manner. As the two separated, Cloud proceeded to show him around in a noisy manner. Soon, all the sleepy people in the small base had awakened, and, with a quick wind barrier, Onion Knight found himself, instead of hugging Terra to death, following along behind her in a disgruntled mood. Cloud quickly went through the motions of introducing Ramza to the rest of the group, before sitting down to join the rest of the team as Ramza stood by the fireplace.

"I can't believe it! I thought you died in the Airship Graveyard battle, Ramza! The group you left behind told me you did!" Cloud said, causing Ramza to laugh nervously.

"Well, actually, Cloud," Ramza said, "I did die. I'm long since dead. However, I believe you were told by one Oran Durai that he saw me and my sister Alma ride past the graveyard on chocobos, correct?" Cloud rubbed his chin for a second, and then nodded, confirming Ramza's beliefs.

"It is as I thought. We the dead should not, by standard conventions, be able to be seen by the eyes of living humans. However, the only loophole in that rule of death is that ONLY those who have associated with us are able to see us after we pass on, which verifies that old theory that the dead are always with the living. In all actuality, in that final battle against Ultima, she, in a last-ditch effort to obtain more power, absorbed all around herself, INCLUDING herself, destroying the Airship Graveyard. Those of our small clan that made it out alive spread the word that the rest of us had died. However, as I drifted aimlessly through the Eternal Rift, I was confronted by the souls of the Lucavi I had defeated. They offered me a second chance at life if they could use my body as a vessel to enter this world. When I agreed, though against my better judgement, they attempted to possess me all at one time, causing a time-space disturbance that left me with this body, a slight immunity to their darkness, and a degree of control over their powers. I hadn't found many of our old tram mates before I was transported here, made to wander without a known destination. And then… Well, I found that army of crystal monsters you were fighting and just before Mr Firion here passed out, I stepped in and destroyed the ones attacking him, then shattered a few more before they retreated like cowards. What are those things, anyway? They are certainly no kind of creature I've ever fought before," Ramza said, smiling as Cloud stood and lead him away from the group, moving toward the kitchen to talk in private.

"Who'd have thought, huh?" Warrior of Light said, shaking his head, "For all the times we asked him if he had friends back home, and all the times he said no, this is what we get: A ZOMBIE, and a rotting, demon-possessed one at that. As such, he can't be much good for the team. What do the rest of you think?" Onion Knight shook his head and said nothing. Most of the others did the same, with the exceptions of Terra, Aldone, and Tidus.

"I think it'll help a little, having an extra member on the team. Doesn't really matter to me what he looks like, or what kind of person he is, as long as he helps accomplish our final return to our worlds, I can't really complain. To me, it's like having another bit of family. There's me and Zidane so far who transform into creatures when we enter EX Mode, so having another around who's like that ALL the time would be like having a brother or sister with the same condition I have!" Terra said, clearly excited at the prospect of a new team mate.

Zidane took the opportunity to blurt, "BUT HE'S THE UNDEAD! A BRAIN-EATING, FLOSH-ROTTING, HONEST-TO-GOODNESS ZOMBIE! How exactly is that going to be good for the team? We don't even know what his special skills are! For all we know, the only thing he could be good at is taking up space while rotting back to his grave!"

Tidus smacked the diminutive monkey genome on the back of the head and said, despite his team mate's protests that it was inappropriate, "I don't really care if he's a zombie or a mom-bie." Upon seeing the weird looks of his team mates, he shouted, "A mother-turned zombie! A Mom-bie! Seriously, how could you not figure that out? It's so easy that even Onion Knight should have figured it out quick! But still, why should we judge this Ramza guy solely on his appearance? He saved us all from certain death, even after he came BACK from the dead. I think that ought to count for something, right?" everyone except for Terra and Aldone murmured in thought.

"Tidus brings up a good point," Aldone said, crossing his arms and putting on a serious look, "As the old saying goes, "Judge not a book by its cover. Rather, judge the book by the contents of its pages." At this, everyone looked at Aldone, as if he'd just sprouted horns or a demon's tail.

"I come from a world where everyone is a poser, a fake, a person who wants to be someone they can't be. So, in order to make people think they're impressive, they act like an entirely different person. I'm one of the now only two people who still think that you should be yourself. The other person is the sister of my ex-girlfriend. And before you ask, Zidane," Aldone said, looking at the wide-eyed smile of his flirtatious friend, "She's not available. Not anymore. She, and my entire family, on a separate occasion, died years ago by the hands of my nemesis Nitewind. That memory still haunts me to this very day." At this, Zidane's expression fell and became one of horror, then changed again into a look of grim understanding. Now everyone knew what motive Aldone had for wanting to destroy Nitewind, but they still didn't know what the guy looked like.

"Since I'm from where I'm from, I was considered an outcast and a freak by almost every citizen in my town. No one knows that it's me running the back-alleys at night, flushing out the filth and garbage that is thievery, perversion, and other miscreant activities that go on behind those dark shadows," Aldone said, hi face now a mixture of pain and anger. Now Warrior of Light was interested in this boy.

"Excuse me, Aldone, could I inquire what you do in your spare time back in your world?" the warrior asked, while everyone, save for Cloud and Ramza, leaned in for the response.

"Well, I guess it's proper for me to tell you. I have three jobs. Like I said, my night-job is defending my city from criminals and the like. By that, I mean the general riff-raff, and some of the more "cut-above" losers with little left to do but commit acts of evil. My day-job is slightly different, however. I run an assassination business in my day-job, using the name "Tek" as a moniker to instil fear in the hearts of the corrupt. My business is called "Crimson Sunset", and deals with all kinds of requests, from returning stolen goods to their owner, to full-on assassinations," Aldone said, and everyone took a visible movement away from him. Before anyone could ask a question, Aldone continued:

"My business only deals with cases that are real, not fake. Say, for instance, Firion had a nice home, with a nice set of dishes that he didn't want to ever use, due to sentimental value. He goes to dinner, comes home to find the place trashed, and his dishes stolen. He could put in a request at Crimson Sunset, and my associates would be dispatched to reclaim the lost articles. Now, if the dishes have been destroyed, the request for revenge would be thrown out, saying that it is lacking in actual foundation, IF the client only asks for is the person responsible to be killed. However, if the client asks for the responsible party to be brought to justice, the request will be fulfilled at no cost. Assassinations, however, need to be sorted through with EXTREME care. Some people just ask for insignificant things, but some others are regarded with UTMOST care and given top priority."

"As a different example, Say Terra is back in her world, and is killed for something stupid. Her family and friends would request vengeance so she could rest in peace, but this request is thrown out, as a petty murder like this can be handled by law enforcement. However, if law enforcement does nothing, the request will be taken back in for review and immediate action. On the opposite end of this, say… Cloud's nemesis, Sephiroth," At this point, Cloud and Ramza stopped their conversation and listened, "Is a mayor of a town. However, crooks and criminals give him bribes of money, or women, or both, to convince Sephiroth not to throw them in prison. Cloud, as a law enforcer, or even a citizen, could put in a request for Sephiroth to be assassinated. This would be highest priority. IN terms of order for our examples, Sephiroth's assassination would be top of the list, avenging Terra's death would be middle ground, and Firion's plates would be at the bottom, to be dealt with when there's nothing else to do. I deal with the higher-profile missions myself, while my associates deal with the lesser ones for me, unless I feel like getting personally involved. That's how we work."

Everyone sat in silence for several seconds, taking in this new information, until a few minutes later, when Bartz said, "Wait, you said you had three jobs. What's the third?" Aldone cleared his throat and frowned, thought about his wording for a second, and then smiled.

"I guess you could say my third job is similar in nature to what you all do. My third job is to save the world. Or, at least, save MY world. You see, like many of your worlds, mine is infested with monsters. Only, unlike the monsters in your worlds, the monsters in my world are immune to conventional weapons like swords, staves, and projectile weapons. Some are even immune to certain kinds of magic. These monsters are called Phantasms, and they are attempting to destroy my town and make it a BoO, Base of Operations, for a full-scale war they intend to wage against humanity, so they can become the sole, dominant species. As such, the smiths of my world set about the task of fusing three of the Four Concepts together: The Natural, as in all things born of nature, The Technological, as in metals that conduct and electric current, and The Supernatural, as in the Phantasms themselves."

"Thus, a crack team of specialists created the first prototype Phantom Weapons; weapons using Ghost Spheres, or pure, solidified Phantasm sprit essence, to power technology in a natural-made weapon. A separate team was tasked with creating magic that could fell the phantasms if the weapons failed to work, and turned to a different combination of the Four Concepts: The Magical, such as Fire magic, The Technological, and the Supernatural, to create Ghost Cubes; cube-shaped containers composed similarly to the Phantom Weapons, but made to house anti-Phantasm Magic. In doing so, special groups of military troops were trained in the use of these magicks and weapons. Through multiple trial-and-error processes, the perfected versions of these tools were created. This occurred about the same time that my family was killed."

Firion's interest in this new kind of weaponry seemed to have piqued, and in seconds, he asked, "What kinds of weapons can these Phantom Weapons be made of?"

Aldone smiled, and, as he chuckled, he said, "Firion, Firion, Phantom weapons can be made from the basic design of any weapon. Daggers, bows-and-arrows, swords; you name it, they can make it. Personally, I prefer swords to anything else, as they are my favourite weapons of all. And, I'll give you all a demonstration of their powers, so you know." Standing, Aldone reached for his left shoulder, and pulled at the air. Surprisingly, a sword's hilt became visible in his hand, and soon, a full-length katana-style sword was hovering in midair in front of Aldone, who held his hand in place.

"What are you doing, Aldone?" Zidane asked, soon stopping his query as the sharp tip of the same sword soon found itself a home, twitching rapidly in the empty air just between Zidane's eyes. Zidane quivered in place as the sharp sword soon zipped back to Aldone's hand at a mere hand motion. Zidane breathed a small sigh of relief as he watched Aldone slide his two-finger sign over the blade's edge, soon transforming it into a large, water-like Kris blade. As all of his friends gasped in shock, Aldone swung the sword through the air, sending a water-like shockwave in the direction of Onion Knight, who quickly blocked the attack with a parry of his own blade. As Aldone left the sword dangling in mid-air, He reached for the opposite shoulder AND his left side, and, simultaneously pulled out two more swords, performing the same trick on these as the first. His left-handed sword transformed into a tiny dagger, much smaller than Onion Knight's sword, and the right-handed sword's blade vanished into thin air.

Allowing these to dangle in the air as well, he reached for his right side and the empty space behind his neck, and revealed two more blades. After performing his trick once more, the blade of the sword in his left hand turned black and menacing in appearance, while the other turned white and remained the same shape. He left these to hang as well. Then, in a flurry of motion, Aldone allowed his fingers to fly, forming multiple hand symbols in a matter of seconds. Once he finished, he grabbed each weapon by the handle and pushed them together, fusing them into one: a katana with a blade almost as long as Sephiroth's. Then, sliding his hand along the blade, Aldone altered the blade's dimensions to almost unimaginable sizes and shapes, finally leaving it as a long blade with a double-handle along the blunt side, which he held in place along his shoulders.

Aldone smiled as his friends stared at him in disbelief, and then said, "Thus is the power of a Phantom Weapon. It takes a lot of training and a mastery of certain special techniques before the Phantasms used in the making of the weapons attune themselves to your muscle structure to maximize effectiveness in battle. Not only that, but…" Slowly walking over to Firion, he asked the weapons-master to stand and try to hold the sword. Unfortunately, no sooner had Aldone let go of the handle than Firion found that he was plummeting several feet through the floor.

"SORRY FIRION! I WON'T MAKE YOU DO THAT AGAIN! CLIMB BACK UP!" Aldone shouted as five bolts of light shot from the hole and landed back in their respective sheathes. Aldone sat back down in his seat and smiled happily as he slowly fell sleep from exhaustion. Firion slowly crawled out of the hole and joined the others in lugging Aldone to his room.

~LATER…~

Aldone at the table, slowly munching on a snack of … well, he couldn't really tell what it was, but he was happy to eat anything. Soon, he stiffened in place as the team's resident living corpse walked past. Ramza stopped three steps away from Aldone and cleared his throat.

"Excuse me, Aldone, was it? I request your assistance. I fear I may be falling behind in my training, and I was wondering if you'd like to spar with me. I promise you that it won't be a waste of your time." Aldone seemed completely unaffected by the request, but caught Ramza by his slowly decaying hand as the living dead-man moved to leave.

"I didn't say no, friend. Let's take up our blades and REALLY make this fun, shall we?" Aldone smiled with Ramza as both men grabbed the hilts of their blades and raced outside for a good-old-fashioned training match.

DISSIDIA INFO!

Ramza is quick to grow, but loses HP rapidly in battle.

His Lucavi-based HP attacks can deal added effects to foes.

BATTLE COMMENCES!

Ramza Level & Equipment: LVL 1; Short Sword, Bronze Bangle, Hat, Clothing

Aldone LVL & Equipment: LVL4; Slashing Claws, Strizer Star Spring, Strizer Star Lens, Bronze Armour

Ramza Starting Stats: HP-1250, Brave-120

Aldone Starting Stats: HP-1355, Brave-145

Stage Brave: 570

Ramza: Let us make haste; I am not long for this world.

Aldone: Never fought ALONGSIDE a zombie before…

Ramza lofted his large sword high into the air and charged, leaping high for a crashing blow that missed by an inch. Aldone leapt aside in time to see Ramza yank the sword out of the ground, with a large chunk of rock stuck to it, and charge him again. Aldone quickly got up and blocked most of the incoming attacks. However, there was one that Aldone hadn't been expecting…

Ramza Stats: HP-1000, Brave-120

"COME FORTH AND RAIN DOWN YOUR DARK JUDGEMENT: ZALERA DESCENT!" Ramza shouted as he leapt high into the air. As he descended, his blade transformed, gaining blades on the edges. The sword then proceeded to burst into dark flames that rose up Ramza's arm. As Aldone ducked to avoid the attack, Ramza surprised him by swinging his free arm in a punch to push Aldone into the attack. Aldone, caught in the middle of a furious combo, soon felt himself land back-first against a wall.

Aldone Stats: HP-1160, Brave-70

Ramza Stats: HP-925, Brave-145

Aldone stood up and wound up for a powerful, flaming punch combo, but was soon caught of guard by a round-house kick that sent him through the nearest pillar. As soon as he stood, Ramza charged him, unleashing a flurry of powerful blows. At least, until a flash of light blinded Ramza, giving Aldone the time he needed. As he stepped forward, he drew one sword after the other, slashing an ornate star pattern into Ramza's body, following that with a circular slash.

EX BURST ACTIVATED!

TERRA-FIRMA LAW!

"Time to count it up: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, SIX, SEVEN! Let's begin," Aldone said as the attack blasted Ramza backward. Aldone rushed forward, now covered in a sleek, form-fitting suit of armour, and began his own furious combo that Ramza couldn't seem to escape. As the attack grew steadily fiercer, Aldone turned and charged up energy.

"Time for a standard Magic lesson: To levitate Earth," Aldone began, casting a quake spell that hurled Ramza into the air; "Use Lightning to break and wind to suspend," Aldone said as he simultaneously cast Storm and Gale; "Then, for maximum effect," Aldone said as all five of his swords burst into flames and water surrounded Ramza, "BRING FROZEN WATER TO AN INSTANT, HIGH-ROLLING BOIL!" At this, Aldone charged Ramza and slashed through him with all five swords, charring the water around the living corpse as the poor zombie fell to the ground, then bounced, and regained his footing.

Aldone Stats: HP-1160, Brave-120

Ramza Stats: HP- 680, Brave-45

"WHAT?" Aldone shouted, reeling back and pulling out two swords to better combat Ramza with. As the two flew at each other again, they released a shockwave that rocked the area.

"BLAST RAVE!" "HASHMAL SLASH!"

As the dust cleared…

BREAK!

Ramza Stats: HP-555, Brave-735

Stage Brave: 600

Ramza smiled an eerie smile as he slowly rose and began to twitch. His body began to mutate as seemingly unseen forces fused with his body to power him up.

EX MODE ACTIVATED:

FULL LUCAVI FUSION!

"I apologize, Sir Aldone," Ramza said as his fully transformed, monstrous body loomed over Aldone, "But this is yet another fight that I absolutely cannot afford to lose. I sincerely hope you will not think less of me after this. MIRROR WAVE."

EX BURST ACTIVATED:

MIRROR WAVE!

Aldone could barely see the barrage of attacks that nailed him from almost every imaginable direction, and even several that weren't physically possible. As Ramza charged for the final strike, he held his hands in a triangular shape and formed from his power a large, circular reflective barrier. Ramza cast a single spell; as that spell entered the barrier, Aldone felt his body tear. He was smashed by multiple speedy, super powered Ultima spells inside of a few short seconds.

Ramza: A rather unenlightening victory…

VICTORY!

Ramza Post-Battle:

-Gained 12750 EXP!

-Level Increased by 4! (1-5)

-Basic Stats went up!

-Gained 6 AP!

-Gained 1250 Gil!

-Gained 4PP!

Later, As Ramza helped Aldone into his bed, Aldone grinned.

"Looks like I'm going to have to train some more, huh?" he said as he slowly as he passed out.

"No, Sir Aldone," Ramza said grimly as he walked out of the room, "You won't be able to best me. I can't let you."

ED: "Chacarron Macarron" – El Mundo

To Be Continued…

Well, I've decided to add FFT characters. FFT, FFTA, and FFTA2: Grimoire of the Rift are being added. IN terms of FF11, I'm thinking I should use a dark version of Shantotto, and Basch for FF12. In terms of FF13, I'm in need of suggestions. Crystal Chronicles is also an area for viewer suggestion. I WAS thinking "Ring of Fates" and "Crystal Bearers", only because they are the ONLY two Crystal Chronicles games with non-customizable starting canon heroes. Somehow, Yuri from RoF seems better than using a second OC. Still, it's up to you, folks! Any help you can give is much appreciated! R&R, CONSTRUCTIVE FLAMES Welcome!


	4. TENSION RISING: KING, LEATHER & PUPPY!

Let's rock this party. Chapter 4 is on!

_  
CHAPTER 4:TENSION RISING: A KING, RED LEATHER, AND A PUPPY!

OP: "Wanna Be Strong" – Tsubaki Takayuki  
_

Sephiroth smirked, leaning in a half-assed manner against a pillar in the Villain's Hideout in the Old Chaos Shrine. As Jecht passed, grunting from the few wounds that Nitewind had inflicted on him, Sephiroth laughed, which drew Jecht's attention to him.

"What're you laughing at, mister ghost? At least I'm still mostly alive. You've been killed … how many times now? Wait, let me see… one, carry the two, times seven… about twenty by now? You're deader than I am, and I'm the carrier of a being that shouldn't even exist anymore! Hah HA! , *COUGH*" Jecht ended his sentence abruptly when he began coughing, his breathing apparently not quite back up to speed.

"In any case, I find it funny that you, one of our more powerful allies, fell victim to powers we've never seen before, on the FIRST ATTEMPT. Usually it takes about six to fell you with something. So this Nitewind character has already one-upped the rest of us. Tell me, what was it like to be squashed so easily, Jecht?" Sephiroth stabbed back, getting a visible reaction from Jecht. This made Sephiroth smile wickedly.

"For your information, there's a bit more to that guy than most of you are giving him credit for. It's not JUST whoever's in that thing, there's literally something else in there with him!" Jecht said, doubling over as the pain of straining himself to talk caught up to him. Sephiroth chuckled.

"Don't hurt yourself, Jecht. And we know there's something else in there with him," Sephiroth said, as he moved to leave.

"Really, you know? How'd you find out?" Jecht asked in surprise, slowly using his large, oar-like sword like a crutch to push himself off the ground.

"It's called his inner monster, Jecht. All of us on the side of Chaos have one. Garland's is easy enough to see. Mine is slightly less obvious, and Kefka's… you know what, let's just not go there. His is so obvious it'd make a deaf bat cringe," Sephiroth said as he slowly walked toward the door.

"You're all wrong, then, Sephiroth," Jecht said, "He's not like most of us. He's got a literal demon riding shotgun on the front of his brain. That thing took over when he challenged me! You weren't there when it happened, so you don't know… *COUGH*" Jecht coughed again, as he tried hard to regain the breath he'd used to try and convince Sephiroth. Unfortunately, Sephiroth was already out the door.

"That Nitewind is bad news for all of us on Chaos' battalion," Jecht said cryptically to no one in particular as he hoisted himself up on his sword and hobbled out the way he'd came in. Sephiroth, however, had been standing just outside the opposite door, and had heard Jecht's cryptic warning.

"Just what was it that you saw back there, Jecht?" Sephiroth asked himself aloud, before departing.

~ LATER… ~

Sephiroth found himself in the Planet's Core, sitting on a tall, floating pillar, with his legs dangling. He had lost himself in thought after leaving Jecht, and had probably missed a potential battle with Cloud on his hazed wander. However, he was glad that he at least didn't have fight just now. While his mind was free, battle was fine, but when his mind was occupied, he'd be a little slower in response time. However, he didn't expect to find a large, imposing aura saunter into the area. Snapping out of his thoughts, he looked down at the center platform and found a rather hefty-looking man in a large, bloated beige cloak, standing there, looking around and trying to get his bearings. He didn't look like anyone Sephiroth had ever seen, so he decided to introduce himself, in … his own, special way. Standing up and taking a step off the pillar, Sephiroth slowly floated down to meet the man.

As his left foot touched the ground, Sephiroth's voice airily escaped in the phrase, "Well, welcome to our cursed battleground, _Stranger_." The man, caught off-guard, turned quickly to face Sephiroth, revealing his face. Sephiroth wasn't so surprised at what he saw; a thin, linear smirk, accompanied by twin orbs of deep, ambitious orange/brown eyes. This man was some sort of royalty, though he hadn't a care as to what kind.

"Greetings, peasant," The man said in a regal tone, "Might you happen to know where a young man named Ramza is? I've been searching all over this strange place for quite some time, but I just have not been able to catch hide nor hair of him." Sephiroth couldn't have been more exasperated. For one thing, no one, regardless of WHOM or WHAT they are, NO ONE calls the great SEPHIROTH A PEASANT! And for another, who in the Life-Stream talked like that anymore?

"Excuse me, _GOOD SIR_," Sephiroth spat back, "But might I ask exactly WHO you think you're speaking to? I'm not some minor simpleton who takes hearing that lying down. IF you want the simple pleasure of talking down to ME like that, you'll have to EARN it, through besting ME in combat!" Sephiroth lifted his sword to eye level and swung, releasing multiple shockwaves in his wake. The man's cloak tore under this assault, revealing the cause of his expanded appearance: a think suit of heavy armour that covered ever facet of his body, save for his joints.

"Very well, then, knave," the man said, "I, King Delita Hyral of Lesalia do hereby challenge you to armed combat on this stage!" The man announced, drawing his own blade, an ornamented and rather expensive-looking broadsword, and prepared for battle. Sephiroth smirked and held his sword in place, ready to begin.

-DISSIDIA INFO!-

Delita's HP Attacks allow him to rapidly build his EX Gauge by stealing Ex Force from his foe.

He grows at a standard rate, but has few attacks.

-BATTLE COMMENCES!-

Delita Level & Equipment: LVL 1; Broadsword, Bronze Shield, Bronze Helm, Bronze Armour

Sephiroth LVL & Equipment: LVL6; Katana, Bronze Bangle, Leather Hat, Light Vest  
_

Delita Starting Stats: HP-1150, Brave-115

Sephiroth Starting Stats: HP-1750, Brave-160

Stage Brave: 550  
_

Delita: You are a fool to have believed you were ever great.

Sephiroth: I never liked the higher-ups, anyway.  
_

Sephiroth lashed out, performing a triple swing that blasted air at Delita. However, the mighty king had other plans. He simply pulled out his shield and blocked each shockwave effortlessly. When Sephiroth went in for his next attack and swung, Delita hopped into the air and landed on the tip of Sephiroth's sword, grinning ear to ear.

"Why are you smiling?" Sephiroth asked, getting little more in reply than a simple smirk. As if Delita was saying to him, 'You can't tell?' Delita immediately followed up with a leap and a descending slash that clashed with Sephiroth's as he brought it up to block.

"You're actually really good at this, Hyral. I'm surprised that anyone aside from my acquaintance Cloud has the skill to keep up with me like this," Sephiroth said with a smile, pushing his sword forward to end the clash. However, Delita pushed back with as much force as he could, effectively causing Sephiroth's knees to buckle. Soon, Delita landed on top of Sephiroth with an audible crunch. Sephiroth bit back a shout of pain and instead groaned under Delita's weight. Delita pushed off and descended once more, this time with a rather sinister look in his eyes.

"I know; I'll give you a sample of my SOUTHERN CROSS!" Delita shouted, crossing two slashes into Sephiroth's body.

_  
Delita Stats: HP-1150, Brave-75

Sephiroth Stats: HP-1625, Brave-150  
_

Sephiroth slowly returned to his feet and ran, swinging once more, only to find his sword caught against Delita's.

"What?" Sephiroth said in shock as the heavy-suited king pushed him away and began to glow.

As Delita spoke his next sentence, he grinned wider and wider at each reaction he got from Sephiroth: "Apologies, Sir, but I have no intention of losing to a commoner such as you. A worthless," Sephiroth's eyes began twitching, "Spineless," Sephiroth's upper lip twitched, "Powerless cretin like you has no chance of defeating me." Sephiroth lost it. He lashed out, catching Delita under his guard, and threw him skyward.

"I HOPE YOU ENJOY THE TASTE OF A MONSTER'S POWER, YOU OVERLY POMPOUS, BIG-HEADED, EGOTISTIC BASTARD! CUT!" Sephiroth shouted as his blade began an eight-time attack on Delita, finally slashing him away on the eighth hit when Sephiroth shouted, "VANISH!"

_  
Delita Stats: HP-940, Brave-15

Sephiroth Stats: HP-1625, Brave-160

Stage Brave: 1000  
_

Sephiroth glared angrily when Delita stood, shaking off the attack like it was nothing.

"Honestly? Your shockwaves carried more force than THAT weak attack. I care not for what manner of hero you are or once were, because in my eyes, you are nothing more than a pest that needs to be exterminated." Delita's body glowed more fiercely than before, and soon, Sephiroth understood why.

_  
EX MODE ACTIVATED:

SAMURAI KING!  
_

Sephiroth lifted his blade in defence, but was quickly pushed away by an unseen force. He looked at his foe, who stood several feet away, apparently rooted in place, unmoving, and uninterested. However, in moments, Delita had pulled out a sword very much like Sephiroth's and slashed. Sephiroth couldn't block the attacks that followed.

_  
EX BURST ACTIVATED:

MURAMASA RELEASE!  
_

Sephiroth could barely comprehend what happened next. Seconds after Delita waved his hand along his sword's blade, a mass of malevolent spirits pulsed at Sephiroth, tearing through him several times.

BREAK!

Delita Stats: HP-940, Brave-1995

Sephiroth Stats: HP-1625, Brave-0

Stage Brave: 600  
_

After several more spirit blasts, Delita charged and slashed, cutting through Sephiroth.

Delita: Not quite what I had expected.

VICTORY!

Delita Post-Battle:

-Gained 10000 EXP!

-Level Increased by 3! (1-4)

-Basic Stats went up!

-Gained 6 AP!

-Gained 1250 Gil!

-Gained 4PP  
_

Sephiroth lay defeated in a small crater, while Delita donned his cloak once again and moved to leave. Sephiroth, however, wasn't about to take defeat lying down.

"GET BACK HERE, YOU WEAKLING!" He shouted, swinging his sword of ungodly length down upon Delita, who managed to raise his own in time to stop himself from being cleaved in twain. Delita pushed Sephiroth back, obviously tired of the taller man's antics.

"I don't understand; why won't you just LEAVE?" Delita shouted. He used all his strength to push back yet another of Sephiroth's enraged attacks.

~Meanwhile~

Up out of reach of the battle, in a small, green universe, two men sat by and watched the carnage unfold. One, wearing red leather clothes, sat on a solid green stump and stared vacantly at the battle for a second before looking back at his book, a red-leather-bound copy of the classic love poem "Loveless"; Meanwhile, the other, a boy with spiky black hair and an "X"-shaped scar of his cheek, watched intently, perched atop a similar stump.

"So, who do you think is going to win in the end?" The black-headed boy asked, while his red-clad companion simply chuckled.

"It matters not to me, little puppy..." He said, turning quickly to watch the battle again, "In the end, Sephiroth will do as he always does; he'll make his little 'shall I give you despair?' line, then drop a round of Black Materia on their head from a safe distance. Then, whether the attack landed or not, he'll feel as if he's won, simply because he got the last attack in. It happens EVERY time he's ever fought Cloud and lost, why would it be any different now?"

The black haired one chuckled and said, "Yeah; that does sound eerily similar to ever-predictable, over-the-top, got-to-win-all-the-time Sephiroth. However, I would like to get a closer look at the battle... Is there any way we can move this piece of Life-Stream closer?" The black haired boy pulled hard on the walls of the green universe, and it suddenly began to move, causing the crimson-cow-hide clad man to fall over and lose his book.

"WAIT A MINUTE, YOU IDIOT! WHAT IN MINERVA'S NAME DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" the man shouted, scrabbling down the slippery green surface to try and reclaim his book. However, no matter how close he got to it, he could never seem to grab it. It kept slipping JUST out of his grasp... mainly because the black-haired MAN-BOY wouldn't stop pulling on the walls and steering them closer and closer.

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND, YOU INFANTILE CUR? THE CLOSER YOU BRING US, THE MORE OUT OF CONTROL... WHOA!" the red-clad man screamed as he suddenly went from standing straight up to standing straight up... on his face.

"WHAT?" The black-headed boy shouted back, before...

Sephiroth skidded back along the rocky terrain, running forward to strike again. He was sure his next attack would finally put a dent in the man before leaving to pelt him with his favourite long-range attack, when suddenly the Planet's Core began to act strangely. The ground the two men stood upon began to shake and tremble, the many paths The Life-Stream made around the high area suddenly gaining minds of their own. The long, thin, green strings of planet energy began to twist and undulate, several of them seeming to gain an attitude as it lashed out. The long tendril of energy slammed down in front of Sephiroth, while another, longer, and thinner, landed just in front of Delita with a sound like a whip being cracked. Both men took a step back.

"I don't care what the Planet thinks... I'M GOING TO END YOU HERE!" Sephiroth screamed in rage, taking one more swing at Delita, who saw the attack coming with enough time to swing his own sword upward to block, when...

With a loud bang, the world seemed to shudder and reel. Amidst the dust cloud that kicked up, Sephiroth did his best to shield his eyes and press on for one more attack. However, the extreme wind conditions prevented him from doing more than flying off the only solid ground available. As Sephiroth fell off the platform, he moved his sword and plunged it into the ragged rock face, giving himself a potential foothold for when the wind stopped.

Delita, however, wasn't quite so lucky. Despite the fact that his sword would reach and provide a foothold, Delita's arms were nigh incapable of moving far in his thick armour plating. The sheer weight of the suit when in mid-air didn't help his situation at all either, and he fell straight into the abyss of the Planet's Core, vanishing from sight.

As the winds began to die down, Sephiroth used his remaining strength to heave himself onto his sword's blade, and then jumped backward, grabbing the hilt of his mighty sword to pull it from its place in the rock. Landing with his back to the walls of the Core, Sephiroth placed his feet against the wall and jumped again, landing on both feet on the small earthen platform. Seeing no sign of Delita, Sephiroth smirked wickedly to himself, deluding himself into thinking the man had run away in fear of his power. However, as he turned to leave, he was struck on the back of the head with something hard and round, and he collapsed, a look of shock on his face, to his knees. Taking one last gasp of breath as he reached up to touch the back of his head, he fell onto his back before he could see anything and slammed his head against the sharp corner of the rock behind him. The force of the blow was enough to knock him unconscious a few minutes later. The last thing Sephiroth saw as his vision blurred to black and his mind went blank was... so strange... he could have sworn he saw... a "X"-shaped scar?

Quite some time later, Sephiroth awoke. His deep green eyes moved slowly from one corner of their respective sockets to the other, scanning the area around him. He slowly sat up, only to cringe for half-a-second at the sharp pain resonating from dead center in the back of his head. He raised a hand to check his injury and pulled back digits covered in a light coat of dried blood. _'Good,'_ he thought with a grunt, _'At least I didn't lie here and bleed to death. That would have been no fun for his dear friend._ Isn't that right, CLOUD?" Sephiroth finished his thought aloud and slowly moved to stand. As he did, he noticed something strange ahead; on one of the single black rocks ahead, Sephiroth saw a small book, bound in red leather, lying open on the pages, straining the spine. He walked cautiously toward the book to inspect it, only to find himself being surrounded by... a storm of Black Feathers? Wasn't that HIS thing? It was only then that he noticed a presence behind him and turned. However, what he saw behind him filled his mind with disdain and his empty, black heart with anger.

"_Well... This isn't what I expected would happen when the hapless puppy steered our Life-Stream home directly into your sword's path, old friend..."_ came the voice of a man clad in red leather, holding an ornate, red-handled rapier, whose inquisitive blue eyes stared at him intently. The man smiled, and then, standing to pass Sephiroth, he went to retrieve the book and said, "My soul, corrupted by vengeance, hath endured torment to find the end of the journey, in my own salvation and your eternal slumber." Sephiroth didn't need to know the title of the book anymore; he knew exactly who he saw.

"GENESIS RHAPSODOS, you magnificent bastard; why won't you let me read your book?" Sephiroth asked in mock frustration, both pleased, and yet highly agitated. Of ALL the people Sephiroth knew, why'd it have to be this man?

~ELSEWHERE~

Cloud stood facing Aldone, who was brandishing two of his swords. The newcomer had been attempting to teach Cloud the basics of dual-wielding, but so far, Cloud didn't seem to be getting it. Cloud looked back to earlier that day...

~ENTER FLASHBACK~

Cloud walked out into the training grounds to get a little early morning exercise.

"_Nothing like a good workout in the morning to work out the kinks,"_ he said, pulling the Buster Sword from mid-air and walking toward his special training room. ON his way, he noticed a figure at the far end of the block of rooms, and, upon closer inspection, saw it was Aldone. He watched, at first, uninterested, as Aldone drew a single Phantom Sword and began to swing with a style Cloud had never seen before, easily dicing a tree trunk into tooth picks, complete with a wooden box to hold them in. Then, Aldone drew a second sword, and Cloud watched in amazement as the new boy held both swords behind him in reverse grip fashion and performed a quick spinning slash with both weapons. Seconds later, a nearby rock fell into three pieces, and Aldone, seemingly finished with his training, sheathed his blades. HE turned and found himself staring Cloud dead in the eyes. The spiky-headed blond walked forward and bowed.

"_Could you please teach me to do that?"_ Cloud asked solemnly, and Aldone stared in amazement. No one had ever asked him to teach them ANYTHING. He was honestly taken aback.

"_I'm sorry Cloud, I don't-"_ Aldone stared, only to be stopped short as Cloud got almost right in his face and said,_ "PLEASE! Don't make me beg. I want to learn how to use two weapons at once! Please teach me!"_ Aldone looked deep into Cloud's begging eyes and saw what he knew his friend would need to master the skilful art: an indomitable resolve and certainty of himself.

"_Alright, I'll teach you. Meet me back here in about three hours; I'm in serious need of a bath, and the hot water in the springs will help relax my muscles. I could use it after all Chaos' goons have put us through recently..."_ Cloud smiled and shook Aldone's hand vigorously, assuring him that the effort wouldn't amount to nothing, then ran off. Aldone was still a bit surprised. Why would a legend of Cloud's calibre be asking an everyday person like ALDONE to teach him?

~END FLASHBACK~

"Remember what I've taught you, Cloud," Aldone said, not only dual-wielding his swords, both in a reverse grip stance, "Balance the weight of the sword in your weak hand, and work to counteract your lack of strength in that hand by swinging hard and swift. Try it now, and we'll try with your other sword after." Cloud nodded. He was just about to attempt it when he heard Aldone say, "Oh, and before I forget: DON'T USE THE REVERSE GRIP STANCE. You're center of balance is in your back; placing too much weight behind you will throw you horribly off balance and make you fail miserably. Just focus on the dual-wielding for now... we'll figure something out for a different stance for you later."

Cloud nodded again and said, "Right, I've got it. I've got to strengthen my weaker hand."Cloud held his sword in his left hand, and prepared to strike. However, Aldone moved again and walked over, plunging both his blades into the ground for a moment.

"What's wrong?" Cloud asked, though he regretted asking soon after. He watched with dread as Aldone took out a length of rope and tied Cloud's right hand behind his back.

When Cloud asked why, Aldone smirked and said, "Simple. This way, IF you start to fall, it'll be THAT MUCH more of a reason to make you stronger. If you think about it, strengthening both your arms in this fashion will make you able to stop a fall with one hand and go right into an aerial combo. So, naturally, forcing yourself not to use your predominate hand will mean that you've got to work extra hard not to fall over and keep your balance. BALANCE is the key to proper dual wielding. You can't just run in and around like Tidus after his morning java, right?" Both of them pictured the young "ACE" in their minds: the boy was normally quite light on his feet, and got faster when his Ex-Mode kicked in. However, they'd both seen what happened when Tidus got hold of a cup of coffee, and it wasn't pretty. It had taken Onion Knight tossing off a round of Quake to make them stop.

"Yeah, let's try NOT to go there, alright? That was embarrassing enough for all of us," Cloud said, holding his trademark sword squarely in one hand and ran at Aldone, taking care not to allow the newcomer even a small amount of time to raise his defences. With a simple move of his arm, he swung the massive sword in a wide arc toward Aldone, who, without even a thought, ducked underneath the sword and gave Cloud a slight tap on the chest with his foot. Cloud could feel that he was losing his footing, and fought to regain his balance, succeeding by a very slim margin... and just in time for Aldone to come walking up to tap him on the head. As if on cue, Cloud found himself falling backward, landing PAINFULLY on his bound arm and hand. He groaned as he struggled to stand, and held the sword in his weaker hand again.

"Alright Cloud," Aldone said, "I didn't want to have to get into this too seriously right out of the gate, but at the rate you're going, you're going to need to boost things up a bit. So, I'll give you one more job for the day: Using your weaker hand, I want you to try and swing twice as hard as you did just there, BUT, I want you to make a smaller motion to do it. You don't always NEED to make your movements wide and easily broadcast. However, small movements of your hands and arms allow you to keep your defences up, while also opening an additional level of hurt by being able to guard AND hit back at the same time. So, your assignment is this: with only your weaker hand, practice maker small, yet power-packed movements while holding your sword. That should help you best." Cloud looked at Aldone and nodded with a frown. He knew from the beginning that this wouldn't be easy, but he didn't realise it would be this difficult.

Aldone walked around Cloud's back and started to untie his arm when the two heard a noise. Aldone, expecting another attack, reshaped one of his swords into a dagger and sliced the rope off, freeing Cloud's arm, while shaping another into a large war hammer. He sent the dagger back to its sheath, where it instantly returned to its previous form.

Then, with a thunderous roar, Aldone shouted, "COME ON OUT, CHAOS SCUM!" and slammed the hammer, flat side down, on the ground, which formed a large crater. However, energy he'd been secretly string from his earlier bath shot into the ground and fired off in all directions, creating ground projectiles that ignored him and Cloud and went after another presence in the bushes. The presence revealed itself with a rather childish cry of "YOWCH!", and Aldone sprang at the bush with a growl, and soon a tussle ensued. A couple shouts and cries came from the bush, and soon, Aldone dragged a man out from behind the greenery with his target trapped in an intense headlock. The subject of his attack, a small, spiky mound of black hair that resembled a porcupine, struggled fiercely to escape his iron grip.

"Hey Cloud, this guy says he knows you from somewhere. You know him?" Aldone said, lifting the man up by the back of his shirt to reveal a single bang of long, black hair extending down past an "X"-shaped scar on the boy's cheek to rest JUST above the edge of his chin, his sea-blue eyes awash in the energy of Mako. The boy looked up at Cloud and smiled a childish smile full of energy. And Cloud, in a sudden fit of emotion, dropped the Buster Sword as he fell to his knees.

"Z-Zack? Is that really you?"

_  
ED: "Chacarron Macarron" – El Mundo

To Be Continued…

Well, I've decided to add FFT characters. FFT, FFTA, and FFTA2: Grimoire of the Rift are being added. IN terms of FF11, I'm thinking I should use a dark version of Shantotto, and Basch for FF12. In terms of FF13, I'm in need of suggestions. Crystal Chronicles is also an area for viewer suggestion. I WAS thinking "Ring of Fates" and "Crystal Bearers", only because they are the ONLY two Crystal Chronicles games with non-customizable starting canon heroes. Somehow, Yuri from RoF seems better than using a second OC. Still, it's up to you, folks! Any help you can give is much appreciated! R&R, CONSTRUCTIVE FLAMES Welcome!


End file.
